A new bill from the Norwegian government will ban all types of traffic alarms in the country. 100,000 drivers will be affected, writes NRK.
While traffic alerts here are a lucrative business, the government in Norway wants to ban the technology completely.
This is written by the country's answer to Danmark Radio, NRK .
Specifically, the Norwegian government wants to ban traffic alerts that warn of police checks. It is unclear whether it will also ban alerts that warn of accidents.
Similar to the situation here at home, many drivers today use a traffic alarm further north. According to NRK, the total ban on traffic alarms will, among other things, affect the company behind the Safedrive unit, which has sold alarms to 100,000 Norwegians.
Like here at home, Safedrive allows Norwegian drivers to warn each other about everything from accidents to animals on the road and speed checks. But it is now about to be completely banned.
In 2023, Safedrive had a turnover of 200 million Norwegian kroner before tax, and the former Minister of Transport Ketil Solvik-Olsen has been acquired as chairman of the board.
He says that the company would like to cooperate with the police so that it will no longer be possible to warn against drug checks. But the Norwegian police completely reject this.
The so-called Emergency Police (UP) say they will not cooperate at all. The police point out that their checks should be unpredictable for drivers.
Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård (Ap) also says that traffic alarms weaken the consequences of police work. Among other things, the checks have no preventive effect now that the alarms are legal, the minister believes.
On the other hand, the company behind the traffic alarms believes that their technology actually increases safety on the country's roads. Several parties have already said that they are directly against the government's proposal for a ban.
If the Norwegians tighten their laws, they won't be the first to crack down on traffic alarms. In 2020, Germany banned the exact same technology.
In Germany, the technology is so banned that even Danish drivers are not allowed to drive around with an alarm turned off in their car. If the police discover it, they will be fined 75 euros, equivalent to 560 kroner.
